Bill Gelles grew up loving cars, but it wasn’t his fault. His father started buying him Schuco wind-up cars. When he saw the movie “The Racers,” his path was set.

One fateful day in 1970 in Westchester County New York, while driving his 1969 Cadillac convertible, he experienced an epiphany in the form of a black Ferrari California Spyder motoring the other way. Searching for a place to turn around and follow was nearly impossible; when he finally found one and gave chase, the Italian sports car was nowhere to be found.